{"id":1917,"date":"2017-05-09T20:00:33","date_gmt":"2017-05-10T00:00:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.normfriedman.com\/blog\/?p=1917"},"modified":"2018-07-06T10:31:04","modified_gmt":"2018-07-06T14:31:04","slug":"proceed-with-caution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.normfriedman.com\/blog\/proceed-with-caution\/","title":{"rendered":"Proceed with Caution"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"15591778363_1094314025_z\"<\/a><\/p>\n

In these sentences, decide if one word is correct or both.<\/p>\n

1. I felt (bad\/badly) about giving Felix so little time to rehearse his role in our skit.<\/em>
\n 2. I was worried about Felix’s performance, but he did (good\/well).<\/em><\/p>\n

The bad and the good<\/h2>\n

In #1 does “felt badly” sound more sophisticated than “felt bad”? Careful, now! We don’t make decisions based on what sounds<\/span>\u00a0more sophisticated; we decide based on grammar rules. Then we really<\/span> sound good.<\/p>\n

Although many smart people prefer “felt badly,” it’s wrong. Yes, we might “drive badly” or “sing badly,” but remember that a few verbs \u2013 like “is,” “seem,” “appear,” and “feel” \u2013 are called linking verbs<\/em>. They don’t convey any action, like “drive” or “sing”; they just connect. And most of them don’t throw us off because we can tell what sounds right. (His speech was<\/span> bad, not badly. The weather seemed<\/span> bad, not badly.) But watch out for “feel” or “felt.” They take the adjective “bad” as well, not the adverb “badly.”<\/p>\n

So in #1 we want\u00a0I felt bad about giving Felix so little time to rehearse his role in our skit.<\/em><\/p>\n

Now what about “did good”? Yes, we sometimes say that or “I’m doin’ good” in a slangy way, but, of course, those are incorrect. “Do” is an action verb, so it takes the adverb “well.”<\/p>\n

Therefore, in #2 we want I was worried about Felix’s performance, but he did well.<\/em><\/p>\n

I hope you did well on the brief quiz.<\/p>\n

You can go to\u00a0http:\/\/www.normfriedman.com\/index.shtml<\/a>\u00a0to learn more about my workshops on writing in the workplace, individual\u00a0coaching, editing, and handbook \u2013\u00a0100+ Instant Writing Tips<\/a>.\u00a0Thank you.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In these sentences, decide if one word is correct or both. 1. I felt (bad\/badly) about giving Felix so little time to rehearse his role in our skit. 2. I was worried about Felix’s performance, but he did (good\/well). The … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,10],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.normfriedman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1917"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.normfriedman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.normfriedman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.normfriedman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.normfriedman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1917"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"http:\/\/www.normfriedman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1917\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1927,"href":"http:\/\/www.normfriedman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1917\/revisions\/1927"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.normfriedman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1917"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.normfriedman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1917"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.normfriedman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1917"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}